====== Issue 2014 - November ======

===== Writing shell in a portable way is ... =====

Well, I guess word ''issue'' is spot on just now. Writing shell scripts in portable way seems to be anything 
but easy and intuitive :-) Yes, I'm having a bit of an issue here. Small code snippet

<code:bash>
#!/bin/sh

on_error()
{
    printf -- "Can I access date '%s' here as well?\n" "${DATE}"
}

DATE=$(date)
printf -- "Today is %s\n" "${DATE}"
trap on_error 1 2 15
sleep 3600
</code>

Where is the problem at? It's in ''trap'' and the fact you can't use ''SIGHUP'', ''SIGINT'', ''SIGTERM'' and alike, but you have to use signal numbers. And to use ''#!/bin/bash'' as a solution? Please!

**UPDATE**: Actually, you can use ''HUP'', ''INT'' and ''TERM'' according to [[https://wiki.icflix.com/|this wiki page]]. Also, reading POSIX web page about [[http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/trap.html|trap]] is helpful ;-)

And don't get me wrong. I'm more or less making fun out of it. I didn't know or forgotten all about it. May be somebody will find this useful.